India finish third, fail to qualify for final round at FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023

Published at :August 18, 2023 at 12:20 PM

Modified at :January 13, 2024 at 5:55 PM

(Courtesy : The Times of India)

Pranav Prince finished the tournament by scoring 62 points

Indian men’s basketball team finished their campaign at the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023 in the third spot behind table toppers Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. India thus missed out on qualifying for the further stages of the Olympic qualifiers as only the top team makes it through to the next round.

The tournament started on a bright note for the Indian team upsetting higher ranked and hosts Syria (85-74) and in the following round defeated Indonesia (90-74) by a comfortable margin. Pranav Prince, Muthu Krishnan and Hafeez were the top performers who stood up whenever required and scored points with ease. Pranav prince in particular was the standout performer who opened the tournament by scoring 21 points against Syria – top most in the match.

However, the journey post the second match was hard to digest as, the blue colts lost the next three encounters to exit the tournament. After a day’s break, India lost a close match to top ranked Kazakhstan (70-73). The match was evenly poised till the last quarter but India in the finishing stages lost momentum and Kazakhstan made use of this and also put an end to their 12 match losing streak.

The fourth match against Saudi Arabia was a one sided affair as the West Asian side never allowed India to settle down and mount a come back into the match ultimately winning (92-75). In the final encounter, India started the match against Bahrain on a positive note taking a lead in the opening quarter and continued to march forward till the ending stages of the second as well. But the match took a U-turn, India from a nine point lead end the first half with a nine point deficit and from this position Bahrain never allowed India to strike back.

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Although the Indian hoopsters finished third at FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament Asia 2023, there were many positives for the team to take forward as the youngsters came forward to score points and showed brilliance at particular stages of the match. Muthu Krishnan in one of the matches, was involved in nine straight points scoring seven and providing an assist. Pranav Prince alongside Sekhon too were one of the top scorers for the Indian team and going forward the teams looks in good shape with youngsters showing good promise.

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